Its Been Long Enough

There is a lot to catch up on at this point. Now that the holidays are over and life is returning to what we know now as "normal," it is now time to bring everyone back up to speed.

Ian is now 9 1/2 months old, weighs 24 lbs, and is all over the place. He isn't walking yet. However, he is cruising, a term generally describing babies holding on to furniture, walls, chairs, people, etc. to get around. He is starting to eat table food. He loves pasta and anything crunchy. He can also climb the stairs, which I am hoping we can get a youtube video of very soon. For the last few months he has red, chapped areas on his face. The doctor says it is from all the drooling he does during the day. It goes away if the temperature gets near 70 for any significant amount of time.

In order, here are his firsts:

Halloween - For his first Halloween, he and Mark dressed as pirates. Catherine and Juliet came over and we all went Trick-or-Treating. Ian enjoyed just being out and about. No candy for him, though.


Thanksgiving - We took a trip to Savannah for Thanksgiving. It was really nice seeing Grandma and Aunt Sandi. Ian absolutely loves Uncle Chris. Ian got to meet cousin Clay and Aunt Lisa. He also enjoyed eating some of Grandma's dressing.

Just chillin

A photo op before going to cousin Addison's first birthday party

In Savannah, with Shelby

Thanksgiving with Mommy and Daddy

Sitting with Sandi at Grandma's

Christmas - With this being his first Christmas, I was having internal conflict. I wanted to wake up on Christmas Day in our new house with our new baby. However, I also wanted to see my family in Savannah. The compromise was to go to Savannah Sunday morning, exchange gifts with Mama, Sandi, Chris, and the kids Sunday afternoon, have Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Lisa's, and then drive home that night after dinner. As crazy as it sounds, it worked out really well. Because we were driving at night, Ian slept most of the way home, and traffic was wonderful. We slept in our beds Christmas Eve night, and spent Christmas Day with Gran.

Christmas Pictures

With Santa

Me and my Rocking Horse from Grandma

Crawlin around Christmas Day

Forget the gift, I want the paper!

A sleepy New Year's baby

Now, Ian is back in daycare, and Mark and I are back at work. Ian will be moved from the infant room to the beginner room on the 21st, and I am going to take a cake decorating class starting next week.

I am sure that the next big event that we will post about will be walking. He is already getting brave and using his walking toys with one hand. Twice now he has gotten extra super-duper brave and let go with both hands. It won't be long now.

A First!!!

I know. I should be ashamed of myself for not updating sooner. We have had our first Halloween and Thanksgiving, and I haven't posted a word. I will have to update the blog on those events later. Mark's motherboard fritzed out, and he has all the Halloween and Thanksgiving pics on his hard drives. I will post them later this week. Today I am excited to post about our first haircut!!!! Ian was starting to look like a shaggy dog or one of the Beatles. This weekend at Suzy's Christmas party, our friend Jaime was telling us about Snip-Its. Its a chain specifically for kids. He looks like a little boy now! Enough of this talk. Here are the pics.

Before (some this past weekend before going to the party and some from Sunday night)










After

7 Months

Wow! Once they start growing they never stop. Ian is now crawling, pulling up, and standing for short periods of time. He isn't cruising yet. He doesn't have the balance for it. He can also hold his own bottle. The last month has been a whirlwind with all of his accomplishments. Tooth number seven is also trying to make an appearance. Did I say he was only seven months old? At his last appointment he was 27 inches long and weighed 21 pounds. We finally broke down and purchased a proper car seat for him. This new one allows him to see out of the window. He was getting a wee bit too long for the infant carrier. Here are some new pics and video. Enjoy!

6 Months!!!

We have finally made it to the half year mark. Ian has now achieved quadrupedal locomotion, he can sit up, and has 6 teeth. Our house is nowhere near baby proof. We need baby gates for the playroom and stairs. I need to put plug covers on the outlets. We need to hide the bazillion wires hanging beneath the computer desks in the office.

Regardless of what we need to do, he is so much fun and has so much personality. He has now taken notice of the cat. Anytime the cat enters the room, everything else around him stops. It makes me a little nervous and the "mama bear" comes out in me, but I haven't had any reason to shoot Willow into space yet. She has been quite patient with all of his noises, movements, and crying.

Below are our newest videos and pictures of the little man (not so little anymore). Mark uploads all of Ian's videos at www.youtube.com. Just search for "Wuahn." Enjoy!





1 month

2 months

4 months

5 months

6 months





With Leslie at Harris's birthday party showing off the Pittsburgh Steelers bib Suzy gave me

Having my afternoon bottle at the party

Swinging with Jaime

My bottom teeth

Playing with Mommy

Waving at the camera

A little pose for Daddy

Exhausted after Catherine's birthday party

Almost 6 Months!

Yes, I have been horrible at updating lately. School started 4 weeks ago, and I have been going non-stop ever since. Mark and Ian became sick the first week of school. It took both of them another week and tons of medicine to feel better. Ian is now sick again (I do not think his first ear infection completely cleared up) and on stronger antibiotics. Up until a week ago, I had done nothing but cry over nothing and everything. Transitioning back to teacher and continuing wife and mother was killing me. Mark and I had a nice long talk about my displeasure with "gender roles," my independence, and my need for balance. Things have been much better since. I am trying to make it a point to get out of the house and do something alone at least once a week. No, that does not include grocery shopping or household chores.

As for the little guy, he changes everyday! I look at his pictures from a few months ago, and he looks like a different child. At the last doctor's visit for his earache he weighed in at a little more than 19 pounds. The coolest thing now is that he has started eating solids. So far he likes all the veggies that Gerber offers. We are now working on fruits. For the next few days he will be eating bananas. Next will be apples. I seriously need to purchase a highchair for the little man. He is getting too big for the bumbo seat. Which really sucks because that bumbo seat conveniently sits on top of the table.

Grandma and Grandpa Walley came up for a visit a few weeks ago. This was Grandpa Walley's weekend to meet Ian.





The following weekend we took these pics of Ian and Mark's mom, Gran.



Here are some pictures Mark took at 5 months (August 20).